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On March 3, 1913, Inez Milholland Boissevain led the suffrage parade in Washington DC which was organized by Alice Paul. Crowds of men surged into the street making it almost impossible for 5,000 marchers to continue. Women were jeered, tripped, shoved and grabbed. Police officers did nothing to protect the peaceful demonstrators (and in some cases openly supported the abuse.) Over a hundred marchers needed to be taken to the hospital, but protestors impeded two ambulances. It took six hours for them to get the injured to the hospital. The doctor and driver literally had to fight through the crowd. Finally the Secretary of War authorized a troop of cavalry from Fort Meyer to control the crowd. Helen Keller was so traumatized by the experience that she was unable to speak later that day. None of the men who assaulted the suffragists were arrested, but the suffragists marched on–eventually led to victory by pro-life feminist Alice Paul.